Tube-welding apparatus.



Patented Ian. 2|, I902.

T; .1. BB'AY,- ln. TUBE WELDING APPARATUS.

Application filed. May 22. 1901.1

2 Sheets-Sheet I.

(No Model.)

in; #955 5 FUERS $0., Pumumu. wAsmNc-mu. o. c.

NITED "m res THOMAS J. BRAY, JR., OF PITTSBURG, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOROF ONE-.

HALF TO UNITED ENGINEERING AND FOUNDRY COMPANY, OF PITTS- BURG, PENNSYLVANIA, A CORPORATION OF PENNSYLVANIA.

TUBE-WELDING APPARATUS.

SPECIFICATION 'tbrming part of Letters Patent No. 691,350, dated January 21, 1902.

Application filed May 22,

T0 aZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, THOMAS J. BRAY, J r., of Pittsburg, in the county of Allegheny and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new and useful 'lube-Weldin g Apparatus,of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification, in which-- Figure 1 is a top plan view of skelp-welding apparatus constructed in accordance with my invention, the furnace being indicated by dotted lines. Fig. 2 is a front elevation of the apparatus, and Fig. 3 is a cross-section on the line III III of Fig. 1.

Myinvention is designed to improve the apparatus used in the lapwelding of tubes. In this process the ordinarypractice has been to charge the bent skelp at the back end of a furnace and at one or both sides thereof, heat the skelp, roll them to a gutter in the center of the furnace, and when brought to a welding heat push them into a groove of a pairof welding-rolls, which welds them over a ball or mandrel. This method of working limits the production of the furnace by the time taken to bring the bar carrying the ball back and -to adjust the ball, by the time that the skelp lies in the gutter of the furnace, and by the time taken to adjust the skelp in the gutter. It is obvious that by using two sets of welding devices the time for performing these operations is divided and the production of the furnace would be increased. These furnaces as ordinarily constructed, however, have made it impossible to arrange two independent sets of welding-rolls in connection therewith by reason of lack of space between the gutter and the side walls, where the cold skelp is charged in. My invention overcomes this difficulty and provides a system whereby two independent sets of welding-rolls are compactly arranged in front of an ordinary furnace and in line with twoskelp-receiving gutters or grooves near its center.

. In the drawings, in which I show a preferred form of my invention, 2 2 and 3 3 represent two pairs of welding-rolls, the bearings for which are staggered horizontally, one set of rolls being at a greater distance from the 1901. Serial No. 61,397. (roman furnace than the other set, so that the longitudinal axis of one pair is in a different vertical plane from that of the other. The bearings 4 4 and 5-5 for the adjacent endsof the shafts carrying the rolls are arranged in tandem, one behind the other, thus bringing the two sets of rolls close together. The opposite ends of the rollshafts are connected by the usual wabblers 6 6 to sets of pinions 7 7, one of each set being driven from a motor 8 through slow-motion gearing 9 and 10. These actuating connections for the two sets extend in opposite directions and may be connected up in any desired manner, though I prefer the form shown, in which they are driven by separate electric motors with interposed gearing connections, In order to provide fornecessary adjustments either vertically or transversely and for removal and replacing of the two sets of rolls, I arrange the bearings between the two sets as shown in Fig. 3, the housings 11 being cut away in their intermediate portions, so that after the top cap 12 is unbolted and the top rollers are removed the lower pairs of rollers can be adjusted or lifted and moved out.

The advantages of my invention result from the placing of p the rolls in a staggered position, whereby each pair of rolls is independent of the otherand the adjustments for one may be made withoutlmoving the other. The adjacent bearings of the rollsare brought in line, thus bringing the rollersnear enough together to work' from a single furnace.

Many changes maybe made in the form and size of the rollers, their housings, and driving connections without departing from my invention.

1. The combination with a lapwelding-furnace, of two sets of welding-rolls located in front of the same, said sets being arranged in staggered relation; substantially as described.

2. In tube-welding apparatus, two pairs of Welding-rolls with their longitudinal axes in different vertical planes, the adjacent bearings of the rolls being substantially in line; substantially as described.

3. In skelp-welding apparatus, the combination With the welding-furnace, of tWo pairs of welding-rolls arranged in front of the central portion of the furnace, and in staggered relation to each other, and separate driving connections for the rolls, extending in opposite directions from them; substantially as described.

4:. In skelp-Welding apparatus, the combination with a lapwelding-furnace, of two sets of welding-rolls located in front of the same, said sets being arranged in staggered relation 

